Bush Could Push Powell

Bush Could Push Powell

BY DAVID CONNELL

Now that George W. Bush is officially President-elect, many cable industry observers feel he would be foolish not to tap FCC Commissioner Michael Powell as the agency’s new chairman.

"If George W. Bush wants to name someone who is universally liked and qualified, he doesn’t have to look any further than Michael Powell," Steve Effros of Effros Communications says. "He’s the brightest and most balanced thinker I’ve ever experienced at the commission, and I’ve experienced a lot of them."

In fact, when Powell is discussed by those who represent the industry at the FCC and in Congress, it is his "judicious temperament" that is often cited as his greatest asset.

"Universally, you would find that Powell would be applauded because he’s got an incredible intellect and integrity," one Washington-based cable lawyer says.

He added that Powell "would be a magnet for good, young lawyers" and help solve the FCC’s chronic recruiting problems.

Although cautiously optimistic Powell will take the FCC reins under a Bush administration, cable hands say Bush’s decision is far from certain.

"When Clinton was elected, no one had heard of Reed Hundt, and he was named," one lawyer says. "Powell’s first love is antitrust, so he might end up back at the Justice Department."

However, Effros notes Powell would likely find greater opportunity at the FCC, where he could "literally recreate telecommunications law."

Adding fuel to the speculation that Powell will be the next FCC Chairman, House Telecommunications Subcommittee Chairman Billy Tauzin, R-La., says he has heard from Bush that Powell is "under active consideration for the job." Tauzin says he would support Powell because he is likely to direct the commission down a deregulatory path.

Perhaps sensing his time is near, Powell delivered a thoughtful speech earlier this month on issue 3 facing the FCC.

During his speech, Powell cited what he calls a "great digital broadband migration," which has resulted in an explosion of innovation and competition. This migration, he added, could be stifled without regulatory restraint.

"With increasingly converged services, it is difficult to rationally label and, thus, assign regulatory treatment to an innovative provider, product or service," Powell said. "This graying diffusion of the legal structure, smudged by technological change, is at the forefront of the challenges facing policymakers. A clear example is the continuing uncertainty over how to treat the multitude of services that can be bundled over high-speed cable plants."

He added regulation should be applied across competing industries.

"We must realize the digital migration involves every segment of the communications industry — telephone, cable, broadcast, wireless and satellite — and none should be examined in isolation," Powell said.

The next FCC chairman will be in the midst of one of the nation’s great debates, according to former FCC Chairman Hundt, who spoke at an investors conference in New York.

He said he wouldn’t be surprised to see new rules imposed.

Disney’s blunder earlier this year when it cut off the ABC network from Time Warner’s cable systems in New York helped prompt the current push for open access for ISPs over cable lines, Hundt said.

When it comes to open access, Hundt would just as soon let ISPs, cable, satellite and telecom companies duke it out among themselves.

"I have the most deregulatory attitude you can imagine on this topic," he says.